"I am frustrated that negotiations haven't concluded of yet," Coonelly said by phone from Pittsburgh. "We were very hopeful to have Pedro playing for the Pirates' affiliates by now. Other premier college players who have signed early, like Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Braun, Evan Longoria, have used the additional year of development as a stepping stone to get into majors within 10-12 months of being drafted, and we tried to work Pedro into that situation."
This is the first time either side has really said anything about the negotiations, the Post-Gazette reports. I imagine we'll have a rebuttal from Alvarez's camp soon.
It is disappointing to see that Alvarez won't play much or at all in the minors this year, but it's not surprising, and my guess is that these talks go down to the wire. I can imagine that Coonelly is frustrated. He drafted several high-upside players but so far has failed to really sign any of them, and after nearly a year on the job, he and Neal Huntington have failed to make a single trade to improve the Pirates' base of young talent. If things don't improve by August 15 (the deadline to sign draftees), the fanbase will start to turn on them. That's not a threat; that's just what will happen.